Holographic data storage technology is a cost-effective
solution
for long-term archival data storage. However, the development of suitable
holographic recording materials remains a challenge. Among these materials,
phenanthraquinone-doped poly(methyl methacrylate) (PQ/PMMA) stands
out due to its low cost and controllable thickness. Nevertheless,
its limited photosensitivity and diffraction efficiency hinder its
widespread application. In order to solve these problems, we put forward
a kind of convenient and simple, low cost strategy, by adding plasticizer N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) for preparation
of DMF-PQ/PMMA photopolymer, avoid the use of complex compounds. The
addition of DMF not only influences the thermal polymerization stage
but also forms weak interactions with PQ during the photoreaction
process, thereby enhancing the holographic performance of DMF-PQ/PMMA.
Consequently, we achieved a remarkable 9.1-fold increase in photosensitivity
(from ∼0.35 to 3.18 cm J–1), improved diffraction
efficiency by 20% (from 65% to 80%), and reduced volume shrinkage
by a factor of 8 (from 0.4% to 0.05%). Furthermore, utilizing a collinear
holographic storage system with multiplexing shift at a scale of 5
μm resulted in an impressively low minimum bit error rate (BER)
of only 0.36% (with an average BER of 1.4%), highlighting the fast
processing capability and potential for low BER applications in holographic
information storage using DMF-PQ/PMMA.